Chamber Gives Reaction to New PM Announcement

05 Sep 2022

Published in: Black Country Chamber of Commerce News

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Black Country Chamber Comments on PM Announcement

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Chamber Reacts to Appointment of Liz Truss as PM. The Black Country Chamber of Commerce has today sent congratulations to the Rt Hon. Liz Truss MP on her election as Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party and her forthcoming appointment as Prime Minister by Her Majesty the Queen.

As the largest business organisation operating across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton, the Chamber emphasised that the Prime Minister-designate appointment comes at a point when many of its members were responding to intense pressures following a turbulent period for businesses.

Drawing attention to a need by the region’s business community for optimum conditions to keep them competitive and prosperous, the Chamber outlined several priorities for the Ms Truss to ensure that Black Country businesses are not left behind, jobs protected, and livelihoods secured.

Echoing a recently published five-point plan from the British Chambers of Commerce, the Black Country Chamber backs calls to help businesses with the expectation of recession and inflation hitting 14% merely months away and the costs associated with doing business rapidly increasing to unsustainable levels.

These actions include Ofgem being given more power to strengthen regulation of the energy market for businesses, a temporary cut in VAT to reduce energy costs for businesses, introduction of Government Emergency Grants for SMEs, and the reversal of NICs to put money back into the pockets of businesses and employees.

Through its ‘This Is The Black Country Campaign’, and the work of the Black Country Think, the Chamber will continue to shine a spotlight on the needs of the region’s business community and looks forward to seeing what action is taken over the forthcoming weeks and months.